Just following this up for other poor souls researching such a thing in
Israel.
Or, as an alternative, does anybody have a specific supplier
recommendation for either T43 or a comparable linux-friendly laptop,
somebody in Israel that would be prepared to work with the University
and be willing to sell w/o Windows?
[SNIP]
I know that HP sells systems with SUSE 9.2 pre-installed. Maybe you
should check that option.
[SNIP]
Currently the HP 14" models from the preferred dealer here are all "wide
screen (WXGA)" which doesn't fit for aesthetical reasons, so we are
checking other options as well - both other dealers and other brands.
My wife actually said she probably prefers a 12" model, but can do with
a 14". This made the HP tablet PC tc4400 a pretty good option. I read a
very enthusiastic installation report on it at
http://www.place4sure.com/tc-4400/tc-4400.html , thanked Theo --- the
author, --- and got even more interesting comments and warm reports
about the make in return. But, following a check through the dealers
with the HP/Israel, they absolutely refused to sell a "non-Windows-OEM"
laptop (they said that maybe an order of 100 units at a minimum might
make it viable). This one is sold with a special handwriting-recognition
Windows version, which costs over $100! So, if minimizing the MS tax is
a goal, tc4400 had to be avoided. The recent negative PR of HP wrt Linux
and warranty is also a factor in our decision not to buy a unit with the
Windows sticker on, even with the later clarification
http://enterprise.linux.com/article.pl?sid=07/03/30/199253
There was a small shop that was going to sell us an "INF" 12" laptop
(could be it's an OEM of the same hardware that LG sells?), which had
very good battery life specs in the description (1Kg in the solicited
configuration, and 8 hours of battery life). They were ready to do it
w/o any "MS tax" (i.e., Windows would have been an extra option on the
price list to check off, and they had there both Vista and XP). However,
they were not serious enough with respect to the hardware evaluation --
they initially promised to deliver the laptop within 2 days, then a
week, then said we have to pre-sign a form saying if we wreck it we pay
for it (isn't it obvious anyway?), then procrastinated further 2 days
and never sent us the form; in the end, the dept. IT guys said sorry for
having recommended this option in the first place. Another problem with
the make is that there is no int'l warranty on it, only through the dealer.
So, after all, we have gone back to the dept preferred IBM dealer, and
are now going to buy either a T43 or a X60s (more likely), paying the MS
tax as we go. We shall try to decline the license agreement by MS and
ask for a refund from the IBM / MS directly (at least, as long as it is
just a matter of mails/letters/faxes.)
The up side of the story is that meanwhile my wife happily uses her
current 7-year-old 3-Kg ASUS laptop, running Gentoo, and doesn't mind
waiting, and also the solid-state flash drives available in Israel got
larger capacity and much better MTBF.
If, meanwhile, somebody on the list got acquainted with a place in
Israel to buy a non-wide linux-friendly laptop WITHOUT MS TAX, please
tell us. So far it looks that the MS marketing successfully forced all
the dealers to pre-brand all their stock laptops as MS OEM units :-(
Or, if there is any of you, who knows a sure legal route to the refund
in Israel (similar to the UK-specific story
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/6144782.stm ), please tell us. I
do have some hope because Israeli law is a descendant of the UK one
AFAIU (again, IANAL).
If we do make any progress with it, I'm going to follow up any
successful or unsuccessful refund attempts.
VKh
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